Patents & Registered Innovations in Playing Cards

Patents and registered designs appear on aces, boxes, wrappers and rule sheets, covering corner indices and mini “triplicate” corners, numbered “indicator” indices, circular or waisted cards, textured “pneumatic” finishes, special cases and new game systems. Notable examples include Saladee’s indexed deck (1864), A. Dougherty’s Triplicates (1875–76) and Indicators (1883), I. N. Richardson’s circular “Globe” cards (1874), De La Rue’s “Pneumatic” finish (c.1891) and Robert Johnson’s Rainbow colour-mixing game (1919/20).